While not "free", also realize the numbers displayed by companies displaying the number separately are often complete and total fiction, even if you consider ha

While not "free", also realize the numbers displayed by companies displaying the number separately are often complete and total fiction, even if you consider handling/packaging/whatever cost. IE next day air from within (let's call it a few hundred miles) does not cost them $50-75 on a 1 lb package, because the volume discount of any company that does any real amount of shipping is very high. The shipping cost at a good volume discount is <$15 for something like priority overnight (and the cost at a great volume discount is closer to 7.50). Even if you consider their cost to make your order slightly special, package it, whatever, it's still complete fiction. I often see companies with separate shipping tell me something absurd, like it'll be $150 to overnight something. At which point i just tell them to charge my fedex account instead, because it costs ~10-20% of that. So when i hear "they are having trouble keeping up with costs", maybe that's because they are trying to put too much of their margin into handling fees.